Apartment vacancy rate edges lower: survey

TORONTO (Reuters) - Apartment vacancies in Canada's 35
largest cities edged lower in April, according to a survey
released on Thursday by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.

The national average fell slightly to 2.6 percent from 2.8
percent in 2007. But the regional breakdown tells a different
story. It is much harder to find an apartment in Western
Canadian provinces than elsewhere in the country.

In Manitoba, the vacancy rate stands at 1 percent, it's
slightly higher in British Columbia at 1.1 percent, and in
Saskatchewan, where it is 1.2 percent, CMHC reported.

"Saskatchewan used to lose people to Alberta, now people
are moving back because of the jobs available in agriculture
and commodities. I expect the vacancy rate to drop below 1
percent in Saskatchewan sooner rather than later," said
Sebastien Lavoie, an economist at Laurentian Bank Securities.

At the other end of the spectrum, Windsor, Ontario,
battered by several rounds of job cuts in the auto industry,
has a vacancy rate of 13.2 percent, by far the highest in the
country, CMHC said.

Moncton, New Brunswick, has the second highest rate at 5.5
percent, followed by Hamilton, Ontario, at 4.7 percent.

The survey said the rental pattern of lower vacancies in
the West was "largely due to to the migration of workers from
Central and Atlantic Canada, who settle in rental housing upon
their arrival in Western provinces."

Calgary, the heart of Alberta's oil industry remains the
most expensive city in which to rent. The average monthly cost
of a two-bedroom apartment there is C$1,096 ($1.077), followed
by Toronto at C$1,075 and Vancouver at C$1071.

The cheapest rentals for a two-bedroom apartment were in
the Quebec regions of Saguenay and Trois-Rivieres, at C$497 and
C$501 respectively. The areas have been hard-hit by waves of
job cuts in the aluminum and pulp and paper industries.